So - it was late January I needed to design a mug for this year's Tiki-Kon.
Seeing as
a) I was somewhat dissatisfied with my results from my first mug attempt (sculpting in mold-able resin - 2005):

and
b) was even more dissatisfied with my second attempt (carving a mug out of hard foam 2006):

and
c) I've been wanting to start learning 3d modeling for some time now, I decided to get on it and see if I could use the mug as a 3d starter project, and hopefully learn enough to sculpt this years mug. Which - in retrospect - was pushing my luck with regards to time-line.

But anyhoo - I won't show my first attempt.
My second attempt (late march) at least bore a resemblance to the design I had in my head.
But was still pretty rough, more cartoony than I wanted, and was abandoned at this point:

At that point, I stopped, took a deep breath, re-watched some tutorials, and started over.
The result* was this guy, who I'm calling Luaahi:

* with some assistance on getting the lettering on there properly - thank you Gideon!

The other organizers were satisfied with the design (and in fairness - probably a bit impatient to get the thing out of my head and into production:) - so I sent the file for digital output, and 2 weeks later received this in the mail:

**
** photograph courtesy of Tikimama

I have to say - its a little surreal to sculpt something on a computer, and then being able to hold it in your hands.
Next step - Melintur is working on the mold making process, and then we start experimenting with glazes.

I'd love to hear thoughts/advice on the medium/constructive criticism on the design/etc.
Has anyone else out there tried designing a mug (or any other tiki stuff) this way?

I like the design, and the whole computer design process is really different and interesting too. Im not big on the white, but with a nice glaze seeping into the design I think it will look really cool. Nice _________________www.kustomkultureaustralia.com

We are planning to experiment with glaze techniques with some slip-molds of the 2005 mug.

We have cone 6 glazes of one white and two different browns for under/overglazes. We as well have a few colors for detail glazing work.

I hope to go into the lab soon for experimentation. I spoke with some local ceramicists who pointed me for the best glazes for layering/mixing and instructions that is is "much better to experiment and follow your own findings" than follow any other parameters, I do so like the fail/success/screw around model.

Oh, and the White of the master sculpt above is immaterial - We haven't set yet on a glaze color, but we are headed toward a traditional brown with (hopefully) some accents.

To follow up - yes, the mug was sculpted in zBrush (which ironically took me rather longer than sculpting the clay mug - ha) - and then sent to a 3d print house.

And while its true that the mug wont be glazed white for production - I'm kind of tempted to produce some with a gloss white finish, and setting up a Futuristic Tiki/Korova Milk Bar in our new basement:)
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I make a negative mold of the sculpt with which to make multiple sculpt copies. These Will be used to make plaster slip molds. The plaster slip molds will go to our ceramicist for mug creation.

Here's the first batch of pictures:

After creating a mold box ¾" larger than the sculpt (in each direction) out of art board and hot glue. I'll pour each half of the mold separately. To masque out 3-d areas for where I don't want the polyurethane to go, I use modeling clay:

To help keep the two halves of the mold together, I make impressions for use as a key to align. Here you can see a closeup of one in the clay masque.

So, how to find out how much of the casting material you'll need? I use rice to approximate the volume.

I mix half the measure of each of the 2-part polyurethane and mix like 'taint no mixing been done.

The trick is to scrape the sides and the bottom of the container with something square. I use chopsticks. Next, I pour evenly and slowly into a corner of the box. I let the material slowly seep around and up the sculpt. As it's pouring I notice how like a chocolate bar it looks. Here see it filling in the keys - caramel spilling into chocolate caverns surrounded by creamy white nougat:

Delicious caramel will be the last breath of this tiki mug!

Almost there:

The complete pour.

Once a day has passed, it is safe to attempt the other half. It takes a couple more than a few days to fully cure. I take off the bottom of the mold and flip 'er over. All that clay we put in has to come out.

The same process is repeated (It usually happens that the rest of the containers are the perfect amount of material) on the back. Mold release, mix half of each, pouring into the corner:

Slowly to the top it pours.

This is the End product. 2 Halves which allows us to make copies of the scupt to use and not have to suffer a meltdown if it becomes damaged. We can just make another. And another. And another.